Over the Edge
I was sold on OtE on the recommendation of John Wick in his first 31 Character Challenge, and it ended up being the first RPG my wife bought for me (in hardback). So I have a lovely shiny 3rd edition book.
It’s wild.
Cover of Over the Edge
The rules system is cunningly disguised within excessively flavoursome text. Roll two dice, aim for high. Fours give a positive plot twist, threes give you a negative plot twist. Whoever has advantage can reroll, if your rank in the activity is too low the difficulty goes from 7 to 8. So it’s a little complicated, but can make every test interesting - and because every test is the same, players will soon get used to it.
The wildness is in the setting. You are strangers in a hidden plutocracy. Everything is driven by grift and conspiracy, so the book is full of conspiracies. But they aren’t normal conspiracies, they are completely bonkers. It has a similar imagination to Spire, without the fantasy elements, a bit less coherent and much more on top of each other. The setting is divided into sectors but each entry in the sector throws up more plot hooks than some entire books. I actually gave up after three sectors because my head was going to explode, it couldn’t absorb any more plot hooks.
And that’s the game: one-roll system and tons of plot hooks.
The other thing I should draw attention to is how the conspiracies come together, and it’s great that this follows Brindlewood Bay. Because what the book says is: let the players/characters speculate. Then take the bits you like from there and use that. Is it original? I don’t think so, I think DMs have been using player speculation to adjust their games since the beginning (and the writers of Red Dwarf did something similar), but I think it’s one of the first games to actually make it explicit.
Elena Sono is the daughter of billionaires. In a quest for self-importance, she heard about Al Amaja and decided she had to go.
Elena’s question mark is the identity that will be challenged by her time in Al Amaja. I’m going to push that theme, because I love being in a tense situation and all she cares about is herself.
Main Trait: I want to take Money, but really Al Amaja doesn’t need more of that. So, I’ll take Self-Publicist.
Side Trait: Elena has always told everyone that she’s a Psychic. Something about Al Amaja has made it true. She has minor psychic powers.
Trouble: I am a sucker for a good complement.
(If Elena sounds familiar, I do like this type of character.)
That's largely it. These traits aren't used like Aspects, they largely cover Levels and colour advantage/disadvantage/story.
Character sheet of Elena Sono
https://atlas-games.com/overtheedge